The Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in-charge of Onipanu police station in Lagos State, CSP Francis Ani, and some of his officers at the station have been redeployed by the state police commissioner, Hakeem Odumosu for detaining and torturing one Tunde Abass who filmed officers of the command during an operation along the Ikorodu expressway.
The command said the policemen who took part in the illegal arrest, torture and detention are also to undergo Orderly Room Trial.
Tribune Online recalls that Tunde Abass was alleged by the police at Onipanu Division to have recorded the harassment and forceful arrest of Kabir Mohammed at Onipanu Area of the state on Friday, March 19, 2021 at about 5pm.
The action of the DPO and his officers generated wide condemnation from Nigerians and human rights activists on social media, prompting the state police boss to order an investigation into the incident.
The image-maker in charge of the command, Muyiwa Adejobi in a statement on Thursday said the commissioner has ordered the “immediate redeployment of CSP Francis Ani, the Divisional Police Officer, Onipanu Division of the Lagos State Police Command and some of his boys for the harassment and illegal detention of Tunde Abass and one Kabir Mohammed at Onipanu on Friday, 19th March, 2021.”
Adejobi also continued that: “The police boss took the decision on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, after he perused the report of the investigation into the incident that had gone viral on the gross violation of Tunde’s human rights by the DPO and his boys.
The statement held that the commissioner has “condemned such act of unprofessionalism and excessive use of power to send a signal to the whole world that the command will not, for whatever reason, condone such act,” adding that the actions taken by the command will “serve as deterrent to other policemen who are fond of harassing, extorting and engaging in acts of lawlessness, unprofessionalism and gross violation of poeole’s human rights in the state.”
The police image-maker stressed that “CP Hakeem Odumosu has also ordered that the concerned policemen in the unprofessional act be tried orderly room in order to award punishment accordingly, while the DPO be redeployed to the State Command Headquarters, Ikeja.”
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